Massachusetts police officer shot dead

Monday

Dec 27, 2010 at 5:20 AMDec 27, 2010 at 7:40 AM

WOBURN, Mass -- A police officer responding to an attempted armed robbery at a department store's jewelry counter the day after Christmas was shot dead in a gunfight, and a suspect also was killed, authorities said.

WOBURN, Mass. -- A police officer responding to an attempted armed robbery at a department store's jewelry counter the day after Christmas was shot dead in a gunfight, and a suspect also was killed, authorities said.

The shootings happened Sunday night at a Kohl's store in Woburn, a city of about 40,000 residents just north of Boston.

The officer was shot while responding to a robbery in progress, police and prosecutors said. He was taken to a hospital in nearby Burlington, where he died.

"This is a horribly tragic incident in which an officer was fatally shot in the line of duty," Leone said in an e-mailed statement.

He said his "thoughts and prayers" were with the family of the officer, whose identity wasn't disclosed because the family hadn't been notified.

Heavily armed police officers and troopers used dogs to search nearby stores and retail complexes for other suspects in the attempted robbery, which happened around 9 p.m., near closing time. A second suspect later was arrested by a state trooper, state police spokesman David Procopio said. It was under investigation whether there was a third suspect, he said.

The identities of the suspects hadn't been determined, police and prosecutors said.

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